Reeder039s best feature

Reeder is a terrific, albeit unique, RSS feed reader. The unusual take on organizing feed groups into stacks of unread articles takes some getting used to. I have been using it exclusivley on iOS for some time now. However, I’m always eager to check out a new app that is garnering some attention so I gave Mr. Reader a try.

Over all, Mr. Reader is quite good.The feed organization is logical and easy to navigate. Importantly feed reading is quite pleasant… after the articles have been downloaded.

This is why I will not be switching to Mr. Reader any time soon:

 

Mr. Reader makes you wait to begin reading. If you haven’t opened it in awhile, expect to wait a significant amount of time. This sync took several minutes before I left the app and switched back to Reeder (and this was not the first time it was synced with my feeds)

With Reeder, the download is seamless and in the background. You can begin reading articles immediately. As you are viewing a particular feed source, new articles begin to pop-in to view as they are loaded.

The iPad is all about immediate gratification. I have immediate access to the web, to maps, to photos and video. I also want immediate access to news. Any app that makes me wait to do anything has failed a key design requirement. I understand that Mr. Reader can not begin syncing until it is launched, but it is poor design to cripple the device during the sync.